Tourism state minister Godfrey Ssuubi Kiwanda has unveiled plans of using sports to promote domestic tourism.
Speaking to the press on Wednesday during the unveiling of a sports only content company, Sports Broadcasting, Kiwanda said that Uganda targets 4 million tourists next year but sports has been benchmarked as one of the avenues to realize that goal.
“You should go beyond broadcasting sports but being able to tell our story by encouraging players to get involved in tourism too,” Kiwanda said.
Sports Broadcasting unveiled a Shs10bn deal towards Ugandan football that will reportedly see them broadcast over 240 live games of the Uganda Premier League, the FUFA Big League and the Uganda Cup.
“Sports opens up boundaries regardless of political affiliations. Some people for instance now know Arua because of Onduparaka and I think local tourism and its related activities have benefitted a lot,” he added.
He stated plans of working with the Federation of Uganda Football associations (FUFA), to involve national team players and visiting teams in tourism.
“What’s wrong with taking our players to our national parks? Players can relax by visiting our attractions and that can be a way of attracting others,” he added.
Meanwhile, he added that a Shs. 17bn supplementary budget for sports development to cater for the period between January and July ahead of the next financial year will soon be passed by parliament.
